Images of a great day....

Some recipes to follow.....

Love to everyone there.

Update...just to be clear, that wasn't at my house. I did make the appetizer and the pies, for which I have recipes. The rest is attributable to the lovely D.

New Painting.....

A tempera painting commissioned by a colleague. A gift for his brother.

New Abstract Sculptures......

My 7th graders just finished an Abstract Sculpture unit. Here are some images showing their work.

Pretty good, I think!

Get me the tissues......

I just watched a very depressing movie.....The Lovely Bones. It’s about a 14 year old girl that gets murdered and she tells the story about it as she is watching her family try to deal with the fact that she is missing and presumed dead. They never find the body, which was deposited in an old safe and dumped in the nearest sinkhole. 

So I switched to America’s Next Top Model. This show is about several anorexic woman traipsing around trying to be America’s Next Top Model aka The Lovely Bones. 

This did not improve my mood while I’m sitting on the couch just having devoured 3 huge slices of sour dough bread slathered with a mountain of margarine. This was my dessert following a previous dessert which consisted of two cookies left over from the wedding. My days of applying for America’s Next Top Model are now officially over before they started. I might have Lovely Bones, but you can’t see any sign of them.

So I switch to Man Vs Food. If you’ve never seen this show it’s time you should. Watching a man consume massive amounts of food at one sitting makes you feel like you are Jenny Craig’s dietian. Makes you feel like, heck, I am in total control of what I eat. Where's that Top Model application?

Right now he’s eating a cheeseburger(s) that is 12 inches high. (They had to put a skewer in it to keep it from keeling over.) 

If he can eat it under 20 minutes, he doesn’t have to pay the $20 for the foot tall burger. What a way to save a buck.

Finally, flipping around the channels with the world's worst designed remote control, (thank you Time Warner) I find Biography. Now I’m OK. I'm really OK. It’s about ABBA.

Mamma Mia.

How many times have you watched Mamma Mia? 

Me? I can't count that high.

Happy Wedding D and V.....

Congratulations to my sweet nephew and his beautiful bride. May your lives be filled with joy and love.

Hey, Birdman! Why didn't we have car like this to pick us up after our wedding? huh?

Truth be told.....

So I'm walking down the hall at school to get a cup of tea.

Behind me are two 11 year old boys, talking and walking.

The shorter one says, " My mom says my sister can't date until she is 39 years old."

The taller one says, "39 years old! You're kidding!"

Short one: "Nope. That's what she told her."

Tall one: "Wow. (pause) Wow. Is that the same for you too?"

Short one: "Nah. I started dating last year....."

Back to the trip.....

Brief synopsis.....A two day mini holiday....many miles away. Up at the crack of dawn on Saturday.......drive a bazillion miles to Bar Harbor, Maine. Stay overnight in Prospect Harbor, Maine which is another hour drive in the opposite direction of our home.

Sunday morning......nice breakfast at the Inn with a lovely couple celebrating their first anniversary. Pack up and begin the trek home from our utterly delightful Downeast sojourn.

So where do we end up??

Every hear of Lubec? (Looooooo-BEC) Check out the fine print on the sign. See the word 'Easternmost'?  Ayuh. It's true. The 'Easternmost', 'Westernmost', 'Northernmost' or 'Southernmost' of anything can't be all that good, can it?

Mr. Downeastdoing stuff: (after checking out of the Inn) "Well, what do you want to do now?"

Me: "I don't know, what do you want to do?"

Mr. D: "Well, it's your birthday trip, what do YOU want to do?"

Me: "Well, we can go to Boothbay Harbor on the way home and walk around town a bit."

(translation: go shopping.)

Mr. D: "I don't like Boothbay Harbor, I've been there before."

(Note: He's been to Bar Harbor before, too, but that didn't stop him from going back.)

By now we have driven north out of the Schoodic Peninsula and are approaching Route One.

Mr. D sees a sign.....'MACHIAS 45 miles'

Mr. D: "Oh, look, it's only 45 more miles to MACHIAS! Let's go there!"

Me: groan

Mr. D: "I'd like to go to MACHIAS and since we're so close, why don't we go there?"

Me: "But we've been to MACHIAS before and there is nothing there!" (No offense Machiasites)

Mr. D: "Oh come on, you know I've been asking to go there."

(Yes, he has said a couple of times in the last few weeks that we should drive up there some weekend for whatever God knows what reason. Doing some quick Math in my head I decide that driving the 45 miles today is better than taking an entire other weekend and driving up there for whatever God knows what reason.)

Me: Stupid Me: "Okay"

So off we go.  45 miles more AWAY from home. (Did I mention that we were a bazillion miles from home already?)

Upon arrival in MACHIAS we see that it's only 28 miles more to LUBEC!!  So guess what?

Anyway, the rest is history, so you might as well enjoy some photos of the Easternmost point in the world.

The bridge to Canada. Thank God we didn't have our passports or we might have ended up in the tundra.

Lighthouse in Canada. 

By the way, (I'm so excited about this...) THAT is a REAL eagle on the peak of that little shed. Not a fake one....it actually moved and later flew away. I never saw one that close!

OK, folks, now get ready for this. THIS is the Main Street in Lubec. Not many Main Streets that the photographer can stand out in the middle of the road, like, forever, and snap this photo.

Many store fronts seem vacant. (Really called Water Street)

End of the world aka end of Main Street. (aka Water Street)


The only open place we could find. Went in for a cup of coffee. The proprietor was sooooo nice, made a fresh pot of coffee for Mr. D AND decaf for me. 

A view from one of the windows in the cafe.

West Quoddy Head Light.

Wild blueberry fields.....

BACK in MACHIAS. (again...) Had to stop at the famous Helen's Restaurant for Helen's famous blueberry pie, supposedly the best in the world!

It WAS very good.

Then the old trustworthy Mapquest told us to drive 20-25 miles NORTH from MACHIAS (we were supposed to be heading south...) to get onto the 'Airline' (Route 9) to "destination Bangor, Maine. No clock, no pools, no pets....ain't got no cigarettes".... and then south on the Maine Turnpike, finally heading in the direction of home. 

It was a wonderful weekend that the blueberry pie managed to salvage. It really was.

Thanks, Birdman.

Duh....

How do you know when you need to have your head examined??

When you go to the first ever in Maine Trader Joe's Grand Opening. That's when.

My frozen food I attempted to purchase, thawed and cooked itself before I was able to check out.

Sooo, my question to you.....Do you like Trader Joe's?

What do you like there?

Road trip......Part Two.....

About an hour away from Bar Harbor and Acadia Park on Mt. Desert Island, is another section of Acadia that is across the water from Bar Harbor and down another peninsula. It's called Schoodic.

This area is far removed from the hustle and bustle of Mt. Desert Island. It's like night and day.

The Park loop is quiet and inviting. We arrived at our Bed and Breakfast, checked in and headed to the Park to see the setting sun do it's thing on the area's beauty.

This is the Bed and Breakfast that we stayed in in Prospect Harbor called Elsa's. It was a lovely, warm and inviting homestead directly across from the harbor.

The view across the street from the Inn. (Notice the light house in the distance.)

A corner of the living room.

The dining room.

The view from our upstairs bedroom. We had our own private entrance from the front porch.

We ate dinner in Winter Harbor. They have their own Village Doctor! 

...and a 5 and 10!

Photo of my husband, Mr. Downeastdoingstuff, aka Birdman (on his blog.) This is the position I see him in most of the time when we are out and about. Heck, even at home he takes many photos of our surroundings!

Down the street was this massive guy. I actually EAT that brand sardines! I didn't think they actually came from somewhere. (yes, I like sardines....me and about 2 other people)

More to come......

Road trip....Part One....

We went away for the weekend, Mr. Downeastdoingstuff and I, up the coast to Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park. This is what I wanted for my birthday, since 'I' don't exactly get a, ahem, BIRTHDAY WEEK! 

Anyway, it was a beautiful fall weekend so we took off at the crack of 7:30 a.m., heading  'downeast'.

 Ayuh.

Seagulls couldn't be bothered to move from their cozy spots...in the street.

This is looking down Main Street in downtown Bar Harbor. As you can see, tourist season has passed....just the way we like it. (no offense to potential tourists.)

Heading closer to the water.

One of the many hotels dotting the coast. Peak foliage season is past, but there are still some bright colors to tickle the senses.

Wicked good ice cream to be had. ( I would think it is wicked good. We didn't have any, but isn't most ice cream wicked good? We had a beer instead in a bar overlooking the water.) (SOOOOO nice!)

This is from the top of Cadillac Mountain. Those white specks below are where we were in Bar Harbor.

The road to the top of this magnificent mountain  is part of the Park Loop Road in Acadia National Park. 

There is a second piece to Acadia National Park, called Schoodic, but that is on the next peninsula of land, about 45 minutes to an hour away. 

We stayed in a wonderful Bed and Breakfast at Schoodic. Those photos are coming next......